TY - JOUR
T1 - The body as unwarranted life support: a new perspective on euthanasia
AU - Shaw, David
PY - 2007/9/1
Y1 - 2007/9/1
N2 - It is widely accepted in clinical ethics that removing a patient from a ventilator at the patient's request is ethically permissible. This constitutes voluntary passive euthanasia. However, voluntary active euthanasia, such as giving a patient a lethal overdose with the intention of ending that patient's life, is ethically proscribed, as is assisted suicide, such as providing a patient with lethal pills or a lethal infusion. Proponents of voluntary active euthanasia and assisted suicide have argued that the distinction between killing and letting die is flawed and that there is no real difference between actively ending someone's life and ``merely'' allowing them to die. This paper shows that, although this view is correct, there is even less of a distinction than is commonly acknowledged in the literature. It does so by suggesting a new perspective that more accurately reflects the moral features of end-of-life situations: if a patient is mentally competent and wants to die, his body itself constitutes unwarranted life support unfairly prolonging his or her mental life.
AB - It is widely accepted in clinical ethics that removing a patient from a ventilator at the patient's request is ethically permissible. This constitutes voluntary passive euthanasia. However, voluntary active euthanasia, such as giving a patient a lethal overdose with the intention of ending that patient's life, is ethically proscribed, as is assisted suicide, such as providing a patient with lethal pills or a lethal infusion. Proponents of voluntary active euthanasia and assisted suicide have argued that the distinction between killing and letting die is flawed and that there is no real difference between actively ending someone's life and ``merely'' allowing them to die. This paper shows that, although this view is correct, there is even less of a distinction than is commonly acknowledged in the literature. It does so by suggesting a new perspective that more accurately reflects the moral features of end-of-life situations: if a patient is mentally competent and wants to die, his body itself constitutes unwarranted life support unfairly prolonging his or her mental life.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34548694755&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/jme.2006.020073
DO - 10.1136/jme.2006.020073
M3 - Article
SN - 0306-6800
VL - 33
SP - 519
EP - 521
JO - Journal of Medical Ethics
JF - Journal of Medical Ethics
ER -